What Quarantine, Loss and Heartbreak Have All Taught Me
What if every road you take, was on purpose?
What if your life truly is happening for you?
What if every little and big thing that has happened has guided you to where you are now?
It’s hard to see it when you’re in the thick of it, I know. As you slowly make it through, If you can be gentle with yourself and then look back, it will always open your eyes.
To think back on the last 6 months as collective humanity, we’ve awakened. Every person I’ve connected with has said they have a newfound gratitude for the simple things.
The things we forgot were so meaningful, so precious. Without the last 6 months, we all would have missed out on meaningful lessons that have (quite literally) changed us all. These lessons have made us who we are now and it’s not even over yet.
How have your bad days (not only during Covid19 but before too) opened your eyes?
Looking back on my life, I can truly say how grateful I am for the bad days. Without those moments, I would never have known I had the capacity to help myself and others expect the good days again. I realized early on that I had an ability to see the glimmer of hope in the distance.
Something inside was always screaming ‘if your world is falling apart, it will come back together and you will always find yourself further ahead than you were. As the roads get bumpy or even if you can’t even find a road, keep going’.
I’ve held space for the people I love and for myself in moments that felt impossible. I’ve whispered these words when my friends felt as though they were broken forever and would never live again.
From the heartbreak that took years for me to understand, to the loss of my grandfather and then my mom. There were many, many bad days - scratch that -bad months & years, but there was also so much hope.
So in those moments of triumph and change, I draw so much emotion and meaning. For me, that happens when I let bad days, be exactly as they are. They’re a lesson, a moment in time that will not last forever. I look for the gratitude waiting to be dusted off and try to not let them become a story in my mind.
Each lesson has given me a deeper understanding of why this life is extraordinary.
No one in this world has had the same life as you. Even if you live under the same roof, you have experiences that the other doesn’t. You have thoughts, feelings, emotions that have stemmed from what you have experienced that are unique to you.
THERE IS ONLY ONE YOU!
Read that again.
What you have lived through, felt, think, seen - is a rare combination. It’s beautiful and special. Literally no one could replace you. That is why your words, your art, your thoughts, it all matters and it all is deserving of being seen and heard.
When you think about the fact that you are here on this earth at this exact time, with the things you’ve done and the people you’ve been able to laugh with and cry with and love, it really is mind-blowing. It’s meaningful and it is in those reflections that you realize how precious everything truly is. Really. Where we are, who we are, what we’ve been through, where we’re going.
Yet so often, we are all guilty of taking it all for granted. We put things off until tomorrow or next year or until we’re ready. We miss out on trying because we are afraid of failing.
We hold on to the sad, the bad parts of our lives, the “I’m not her” or “I don’t have that job so I never can”, “I could never do what she does”, “My life hasn’t been that special”, “I really haven’t done anything cool, who cares what I have to say”, “I didn’t go to college”. (Insert yours here)
Perhaps you’ve thought those things before, or something different but still limiting. I want you to know, as you are reading this, you are a miracle.
Yes. You are a miracle! Sitting there, reading this, YOU.
We all have limitless potential but somehow we let days, months, years pass where we don’t even recognize this unbelievable chance we’ve been given at life.
It wasn’t until I suffered a traumatic loss that I finally recognized it. My life was turned upside down, I didn’t know who I was or what I was doing.
I let fear paralyze me.
Each moment of anxiety, I kept hope that soon I would be okay. Then, little by little, I was okay. Now, I wake up every morning and thank God/Spirit/Energy (Whatever you believe the title should be).
So maybe the last 6 months have changed you. I hope they’ve made you realize just how important your life is. That all those things you’ve been dreaming of doing, that they are worth doing - the moment you get the chance.
I hope the last 6 months have made you realize that time, doesn’t stop. That even on the bad days, the sun will come out. That even in the thick of it, it will eventually end and you will see the light again.
Ask yourself, what do you want to do? What have you felt like you are missing out on during quarantine? What are your mind, heart, and soul craving to see, experience, see? Listen to it, because these past 6 months, I promise, they happened FOR each and every one of us.
If you pay attention, you will find your answers.
P.S.
I’m writing an article on the greatest lessons of living through a pandemic. I’d love to hear the biggest thing you've learned in the last 5 months!
